Courtney and Eric visit

Courtney and Eric came to visit over Memorial Day weekend.  We had such a great time with them!  The kids loved having them here to play with and Brett and I loved having them here to hang out with us!  While they were here we had a double date night, went out to Carmel (all the pics in this post), got mani/pedis (us gals), had a rousing game of mexican train dominoes, and lots of kid play time.  The newlyweds also wisely took a day off from kid bonanza land and went up to Napa and SF by themselves.  I think they had a blast and hope they come again soon.  :)
 

 

 

 

Ruby and Charlotte

 

 

Here's a video of Hank doing "spider walking" with Courtney and Eric.  He absolutely loves to get two people to hold his hands and walk so he can do this.  Courtney and Eric had to do this a lot as we walked in Carmel.

-a

November 2012: Courtney's bridal shower

Courtney and the co-hostesses!  Me, Lisa, Jen, Courtney, Candace, and Shelby
These ladies have been friends with Courtney since middle school!  Lisa and I obviously have been friends with Courtney for much, much longer.  ;)

In November, I flew in to Dallas for a day to co-host a bridal shower for Courtney.  It was a big surprise for Courtney because she didn't know I was going to be there in person!!  She showed up at Candace's house and I opened the door and she lost it.  It was so much fun to surprise her.  

Courtney has so many friends and family that love her!  It was such a joy to celebrate her and so many people were there to share their love for Courtney!

Here are a few pictures I took of the beautiful party.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And some of the family that was there...

 

 

 

 

 

-a

October 2012: Parker cousins

In October, my cousin Jason, his wife Jenn, and their amazingly adorable daughters Vivi and Georgia came to visit for a morning.  They all moved to Lodi, CA from Texas about a year and a half ago for Jason's job.  This was our first time to see them in many many years so it was so much fun to get together and have five kids together too!

You can imagine trying to get all of them to look at the camera was a bit difficult.  I am impressed the three older ones were looking during most of the pics.

 

 

Hank somehow talked Vivi into playing with him in the yard.  Then Georgia came over to join in.

 

 

I loved seeing this family!  I wish they lived closer so we could get together more often! (I failed to get a picture of Jason and Jenn!)

-a

October 2012: Gigi's visit

To those of you who get my posts via email - sorry if you get this one a bunch of times. Something funny was going on and I had to repost it because a few pictures at the end were having trouble. :)

Charlotte, Hank & Ruby at the pumpkin patch

Gigi came in town for the girls' first birthday last October.  Here's what we were up to on that trip...other than the birthday party!

On Sunday, Oct 7 (the girls' birthday!) we got up early and went out to a pumpkin patch.  We tried to get pictures of all three of the kids together and the above photo was the best one.  Back then, Hank was still into very tight squeezes around the girls' necks any time we tried to do group pictures.  He has since lightened up - just a little.

Charlotte

Ruby

Charlotte, Me, Kathy and Ruby

Hank and Brett waiting in line for Hank to get to ride a pony

Hank's first pony ride ever!  He was pretty serious about it.  But did crack a few smiles.

 

 

Gigi and Hank carved a pumpkin together.  Hank had been begging to make a jack-o-lantern and Gigi was happy to oblige him!  The two of them sat outside after dinner one night and worked on it.

 

We put battery operated candles in the finished product so Hank could turn them on and off as he pleased.  He tried to find a dark corner of the living room to test it out.

Then he realized putting it in the fire place was even better.  This is where it stayed for a few days.

On the day she left town, we went to the Children's Discovery Museum in the morning.  It was a blast as always!

 

 

The girls got to use the infant crawl space for the first time.  I loved watching them explore this area.  Hank spent most of his time with Gigi and the girls and I hung out in here where it was safe for little crawler/walkers.

Charlotte

Ruby and Charlotte

Ruby and Charlotte

Ruby - such a hilarious face I had to include this

 They were looking at me through a piece of plexiglass
R and C

Charlotte!

-a